


Likeness

by chrissy2



Category: Marrowbone (2017)
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-14
Updated: 2018-11-14
Packaged: 2019-08-22 18:47:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16603535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chrissy2/pseuds/chrissy2
Summary: That hour, Jack was Jane. He had the urge to clean, and that is always what Jane had done. It calmed her nerves. She was trained to be so articulate, by both of their parents. She was going to make a good mother. She was already like one to Sam. Some might say that if Jane was the mother now, that made Jack the father of the group, and he did not like that at all.





	Likeness

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own the film or characters.

I

That hour, Jack was Jane. He had the urge to clean, and that is always what Jane had done. It calmed her nerves. She was trained to be articulate, by both of their parents. She was going to make a good mother. She was already like one to Sam, and was better than their own. 

Some might say that if Jane was the mother now, that made Jack the father of the group, and he did not like that at all. It made his blood boil and chill all at once. He never wanted to be anyone's father.

(Sam was the only one that could tell him that and make him smile: "Jane is the mother, Jack is the father, and Billy is the crazy uncle!"

Then Jack and Jane would laugh until their faces hurt and Billy would be confused and flustered: "What? Why me? Why am I the crazy uncle?")

 

II

He really wanted to buy another wig. Mother's was starting to fade, and he did not quite like feeling like Mother as much as he liked feeling like--Him. It. The Beast. 

A blonde wig would be nice. But he was embarrassed at the thought of going to town and purchasing one, and he couldn't think up of a good story for getting it if people were to ask. He was bad at keeping eye contact and he already had to lie about so much. He hated lying, especially to Sam about the Ghost. He hated lying to Allie, but she was all he had of the outside world. He was already an eye sore among the townspeople. Even if he was able to get away with buying a wig--along with a nice dress--he'd seldom wear it. He wished he could wear whatever he wanted without worrying about Billy laughing at him or Sam asking complicated questions. And when he did try it out in Mother's room one or two times before, he felt ridiculous wearing such things with the body he had. He was shaped like a rectangle, had buff arms, had so much hair to shave and pluck, and he had no idea how to apply make-up. 

 

III

Jack's body was like the Beast's, the Thing they were hiding and running from. But he was working more and more in shaping it differently. He became a vegetarian and biked and walked along the beach (sometimes with Allie) whenever he could, eventually slimming down to match Jane's figure, which he was delighted to have. When Jack slimmed down, Billy became the biggest and buffest of them, and they were all sure he didn't have a problem with that. 

Jack did this to defy his likeness to the Beast, and Billy defied likeness in his own way as well. Billy was sloppy and unimpressionable and tactless, no matter how times the Beast beat him senseless for it and then poured salt onto his open wounds. Jack had held Billy down as He did it one time. He was scared of saying no. But Billy kept on and on because it was the only time their unmoving, expressionless, bastard Father would twist his face in frustration and, in Billy's eyes, defeat. One of his goals in life was to make his stone face break. 

His top goal in life was killing him himself one day. 

Billy defied the likeness in this way because the Beast was clean and slick, had everyone dancing in the palm of his hand, had the answers to everything, had a plan when a plan did not work. He was too clean, too smart. Everything in their home had to be set up and done and presented in a certain way. His clothes had to be ironed and folded and organized in a certain way. If there wasn't enough spices or salt in his food or enough liquor in his drink, he'd explode. It was the same way with how Mother and his children looked and presented themselves. They weren't people. His wife was a trophy and sperm bank, and his children were name carriers. 

 

IV

They knew when Mother was running out of make up by how nervous and on-edge she got. As Mother aged, the eye bags and crow feet and worry wrinkles and gray hairs becoming more prominent, she feared that the Beast would start looking elsewhere. She feared that if the Beast found another sperm bank and trophy, he would have no use for her and kill her. It would have been easy for him to get away with it. Other criminals had done it and the corrupt cops in the area helped them do just that. The only purpose that kept her alive this long was that she was the one taking care of the name carriers. So Mother kept having children, to continue that purpose as long as possible, to please the Beast with sex, to not face the consequences of saying no.

 

V

Unfortunately, he did start looking around. Jane was ten when it started. They didn't ask for the details. They had seen some of it already and didn't want to know the rest. Jane wouldn't speak for hours, days, weeks, but the Beast didn't mind a speechless slave. It was Billy that found him with her in Jane's room and he ran at him like a bull in a ring. 

That might have been when the pact actually started, the promise to never separate. Jack and Jane and Billy all shared the same sleeping space until they ran away. 

They had no one else. It was them against the grownups.

 

VI

Jack and Billy told their Mother because Jane wouldn't. She denied every bit of it, and they couldn't tell if she actually denied it or was doing it to save herself or them. Mother could be so delusional, they never really could tell what sort of realities she had, what faces she wore.

Perhaps Mother decided it was time to run because she learned He really was planning to kill her and replace her. Her aging was undeniable now. Maybe Sam being born made her see the light. Perhaps Sam was so bright and wonderous--she couldn't stand by and watch another innocent life be destroyed.

 

VII

Jane dreamt of Scoundrel for two nights after, seeing his eyes full of terror and hearing his cry for help. She was right there. She did nothing, like Mother did with her, and the boys.

She did nothing. Like Mother, she shook and quivered and hunched into herself.

The Beast touched her hand, and all the other times the Beast had touched her came back. She was going to scrub and wash for days, throw and beat whatever she could that wouldn't cause harm to herself or others. 

But that wasn't Jane. That was Jack. It was Jack wearing Jane's old skirt. That was Jack that watched Scoundrel die. He did nothing. 

It wasn't just Jane that the Beast had touched in their youth.


End file.
